How are the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River governed?
The Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River are shared by Canada and the United States. They are governed by a complex legal network that includes international treaties and agreements, federal laws and regulations of the two countries, laws of the eight Great Lakes’ states (New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota) and the provinces of Ontario and Quebec and the rights of Aboriginal Peoples and Indian tribes under both Canadian and American laws. One of the most important documents governing the Great Lakes is the Boundary Waters Treaty. In 1909 the United States and Great Britain, on behalf of Canada, signed this historic treaty ushering in almost a century of cooperation between the two countries. The Boundary Waters Treaty committed Canada and the United States to cooperate in the management of the lakes and rivers along their shared border. The treaty set out the legal principles to deal with boundary and transboundary waters and establishe
